


Playing Hookie

by StarrAngelofNarnia



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: All Human, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Child Alice, Child Bella - Freeform, Child Edward, Child Jasper, Child Rosalie, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Discipline, Elementary School, Extended Version, Father-Daughter Relationship, No vampires, One Shot, Parent Carlisle Cullen, Parent Esme Cullen, Preteen Emmett, Revised Version, other Cullens mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrAngelofNarnia/pseuds/StarrAngelofNarnia
Summary: Bella is pretending to be sick and Carlisle wants to know why. Told from Carlisle’s point of view.
Relationships: Carlisle Cullen & Bella Swan, Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen
Kudos: 18





	Playing Hookie

It was now pushing seven forty-five. Emmett had just gotten on the bus to go to Forks Middle School. One kid down, five to go. Rosalie and Jasper were both completely ready, sitting on the couch with their backpacks on. Edward was gathering up his homework and Alice was tearing up her closet looking for a missing shoe because the pair of shoes at the door ‘didn’t match her outfit.’ Isabella was still in bed.

Esme walked out of the kitchen, car keys, purse and designs in hand. It was one of those rare occasions where I had the day off, but Esme, on the other hand still had to go into work, at least for part of the day. “We should be leaving now, and Bella still hasn’t gotten up yet,” she muttered as she grabbed a few things off the counter to shove in her purse. “I’ve been in her room three times, but she still won’t get up.”

“I know,” I whispered back, trying to share my calm. “Don’t worry about Bella, I’ll take care of her once you have the rest of them off. Right now, we should focus on Alice and getting shoes on her feet.”

“But those shoes don’t match her outfit,” she whined, mimicking Alice. “She’s six and a half and wearing a school uniform for crying out loud. She doesn’t need to worry about accessorizing,” she grumbled, as she shuffled through a stack of children’s shoes at the door.

“Well then, if Alice finds it necessary to ‘match’ as she puts it, then she’s going to have to get all her clothes ready the night before. She can’t make her sisters and brothers late. Especially Jasper, he’s a safety patrol,” I commented, leaving the room.

I hurried up the stairs two at a time and walked into the room Bella and Alice shared, right as the latter popped out of the closet. “I found it!” she exclaimed, putting the missing gold glittery flat on her foot.”

“Quickly, your mother is waiting for you,” I told her, ushering her to the door. “If this happens again Alice, I’ll be picking out your clothes for you.”

She whined. “Okay, okay. I won’t do it again Carli,” she insisted, hopping down the steps.

I made it back down to the foot of the stairs, right as Esme was walking out the door. “Thank you, Carlisle.”

“Of course, my love. Be safe. Have a good morning. I love you.”

She sighed. “I love you, too. See you at lunch.” I kissed her gently before she walked out the door and watched the SUV full of children until it had left the driveway and was down the road. Four more down, one more to go.

*****

I casually made my way back up the stairs, stopping in front of the room I had just vacated with Alice. From the doorway, I could not see Bella, only a lump in the bed. But as I walked in, there was Bella lying in bed in the same place she had been all morning. “Isabella,” I said softly. She had been fully covered with the blankets until she heard her name. She pulled the blankets down so I could see her face. “Bella love, you’re going to be late for school.”

She shook her head and pulled the blankets back over her. “I don’t wanna go to school. I don’t feel good,” she mumbled.

I sat down on the bed and threw the covers off of Bella. Now, as a doctor, if any one of my kids were sick, I’d be the first to keep them home. For one, because the best thing for recovering from illness is rest, but I also didn’t want any viral or bacterial illness to spread any to any of their classmates. But today, she didn’t look sick at all. I put my hand on her forehead. She was cool as a cucumber. “Bella you don’t have a fever, sweetheart. I think you need to go to school.”

“If you don’t feel well, what do you feel?” I asked, giving her the benefit of the doubt, but she hesitated much too long searching mentally for a plausible excuse. If she were sick, she wouldn’t need to think about it.

“I dunno. But I really don’t feel good, daddy,” she whined. She was lying to me. I could see it in her eyes.

“Bella,” I said, in my best warning tone, raising an eyebrow. She refused to change her story. I refused to let her get away with lying. I had a spur of the moment idea that I didn’t exactly like but I knew would get her to tell me the truth. “Alright,” I sighed. “I am going to go get you some medicine. I’ll be right back.”

As I left, I closed the door behind me. I walked down the hall to my bedroom and entered the bathroom where the medicine cabinet was. I found what I was looking for quickly: a syringe and 25-gauge needle. We had plenty of them for the Vitamin B12 injections I had to give Esme every month. And, I did not intend on giving Bella a shot; she didn’t actually need one. But I did want to give her a little bit of anxiety thinking that’s what would happen. I figured if she thought she was getting a shot, her fear of needles would overshadow her desire to keep up the façade of illness. But I would have to go as far as I needed to, just shy of actually sticking her, to get her to tell the truth.

For the purpose of making it look more realistic, I filled the syringe with saline, grabbed a band-aid, a cotton ball, and an alcohol swab, and made my way back to Bella’s room. As I entered, I made sure to keep the supplies I had with me hidden from sight. I wanted to give her one last chance to tell the truth on her own. I walked back over to her bed and sat down, hiding the supplies out of sight on the back of her nightstand behind a picture frame. “So, you’re absolutely sure you’re sick Bella?” I asked, pushing her unbrushed hair out of her face.

“Uh huh,” she said nodding, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew it wasn’t true. I sighed. I really didn’t want to do this.

“Alright.” Without another word, I stood up and moved the supplies on the table into view so that she could see for the first time what I had in mind. Or at least what she _thought_ I had in mind.

Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the syringe lying on her bedside table. “I’m not _that_ sick Daddy,” she said, the fear evident on her face.

“Don’t be silly Bella,” I said opening the package of the alcohol swab. “I’m a doctor. I know better than you do what you need to get better.” As I wiped her shoulder, I kept a poker face so she could not see how I was really feeling.

“But…” she said. I paused with the syringe in my hand.

“But what, Bella?”

“I don’t feel that bad. I just feel too bad to go to school.”

“I see,” I said, resuming the charade and pulling the cap off the needle. “Well if you’re sick, I need to give you a shot so you’ll get better,”

“Please?” she whispered. Without saying a word, I gently grabbed her arm and lowered the needle. “Carlisle don’t! I’mnotsickIwasjustlyingcauseididntwanttogotoschool!” she said, the words pouring out of her mouth as the tears began pouring from her eyes. That was exactly the confession I had been waiting for. I capped the needle and put everything in the bedside table drawer for now, so that they would be hidden from sight.

“Ah. I understand. You were only sick because you thought you could stay home without consequences. But when you saw the needle, suddenly you were fine,” I stated, verbalizing her intentions.

“You believe me?!” she asked slightly awe-struck, her tears lessening.

“I know you’re not sick. I knew you weren’t sick from the beginning,” I lectured, taking my seat on the bed once more.

“So why…”

“I knew you were lying to me Bella. I wanted you to admit that you were and tell the truth.” I pulled her into my lap as I continued speaking. “Bella, sweetheart, understand that I absolutely did not want to scare you, but I knew that would get the message across,” I said softly, gently, while I rubbed her back to calm her down. “Lying is not acceptable, Bella,” I said sternly.

She sniffled. “I’m sorry,” she said, burying her face in my chest.

“I forgive you. Now, can you tell me why you wanted to skip school? It’s Friday and you love school, Bella.”

“Because I don’t get Fun Friday.” Losing Fun Friday was the elementary school equivalent of detention. The only way to lose Fun Friday was if you got in trouble.

“Why did you lose Fun Friday, Bella?”

“Because I got in trouble.” I had a feeling I was going to have to coax it out of her.

“How did you get in trouble?”

"I pulled a color.” Yep. I was going to have to coax it out of her. Out of all my children, Bella got in trouble the least, so admitting how she’d gotten in trouble was probably hard for her.

“Yes Bella, love. I figured that much. But why did you pull a color? What did you do to earn it? You won’t be in any more trouble if you tell me, but you could be in trouble if you don’t.”

Without a word, she crawled out of my arms and to the end of the bed, pulling her Harry Potter book bag up next to her. She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a paper. She crawled back in my lap and then handed the paper to me.

“To the parents of Isabella Swan,” I said reading the note aloud. “I regret to inform you that your daughter will not be participating in Fun Friday this week. On Wednesday, Bella pulled a color for talking. She was given several warnings but she continued to talk. This is the first Fun Friday Bella has lost so I wanted to inform you of why she will not be participating.” There was a little note at the bottom asking me to please sign and return the paper to acknowledge its receipt but that wasn't important to share with her.

If Alice would have been the one in trouble for talking, I would not have been surprised at all. Since she started preschool, she had gotten in trouble for talking quite a few times. But Bella?

“Bella, why were you talking? This really surprises me.”

“I don’t know.” She had started crying again while I was reading the note and there was now a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks. “We were in line coming back to class from lunch and me and Jessica both got in trouble for talking. I’m sorry daddy.”

I could easily see how Jessica would get in trouble for talking. And as one of Bella’s friends, I could see how she might wrap Bella into the bad habit. She could be so much worse than Alice when it came to excessive talking. “I forgive you, Bella.”

“So I don’t have to go to school?” she asked hopefully.

“No, ma’am. You still have to go to school,” I said standing up from the bed and pulling her uniform out of the closet.

“But…”

“Bella,” I said kneeling down in front of her. “When you made the choice to talk, you made the choice to pull a color. And the consequence for pulling a color is missing Fun Friday. I cannot protect you from consequences. You have to face them and learn from it. So, next time, when you’re tempted to talk when you shouldn’t be, think about today before you do. Okay?” She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you Bella.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

“Alright Bella, let’s get ready for school.”

**Author's Note:**

> I do not condone Carlisle's scare tactics. But it made for an interesting one-shot


End file.
